Bagels and Lox
This bagel and lox spread makes for a fun, easy, and totally delicious breakfast or brunch! Put out a variety of bagels, along with plenty of cream cheese, lox, and fresh toppings and let everyone make their own. Like my breakfast charcuterie board, this bagel board can be as simple or as extra as you want it to be and it’s such a great way to put out a DIY breakfast spread for parties or guests.
And if you have leftover lox, try my smoked salmon dip or smoked salmon sandwich next time.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
What You’ll Love About Bagels and Lox
- Quick and easy
- Looks gorgeous as a spread
- Perfect for brunch or holidays
- Satisfying and delicious meal
- DIY so everyone can make their own
- Made with fresh ingredients
- Zero cooking required
Ingredients
- Fresh bagels – Savory bagels work best: plain, sesame, poppyseed, everything, onion…the possibilities are endless, choose your favorite and get the best bagel you can.
- Lox – Lox is a cold-smoked salmon and some stores will have many varieties of lox, others will have a limited amount. Some popular varieties are nova lox, gravlax, lox, and hot-smoked salmon (kippered salmon).
- Cream cheese – You can use different cream cheese flavors. Plain cream cheese, garlic herb, and veggie work well, but really most savory cream cheese flavors will be delicious. Put the spreads out in a small bowl or dish.
- Toppings – See the whole list below for fresh additions
- Garnish – Black pepper, fresh herbs, capers, everything bagel seasoning

Emily’s Tip
If you’re putting this spread out on a serving platter, start with small bowls of cream cheese and toppings, and place sliced bagels and any other toppings around bowls. Add any garnishes like fresh dill and add necessary utensils.
How to Make Bagels and Lox
This is an overview, the detailed instructions can be found below in the recipe card.
- Pick your bagel. Choose your favorites and make sure you’ve sliced the bagels before you put them out. If you prefer a toasted bagel, toast it now!


- Add cream cheese. Spread with cream cheese. (I like a thick layer, but you do you!)
- Add toppings. Top with slices of lox and any other desired toppings. Fresh cucumber, tomato, thin slices of red onions, and briny capers are classics!
- Eat! You can serve it as a sandwich or open-face. (I think an open-faced sandwich is superior as it’s easier to eat and there is more room for toppings!)

Lox Bagel Sandwich Topping Ideas
Salmon bagel toppings can be as minimal or as extra as you like:
- Sliced cucumbers
- Sliced tomatoes
- Sliced red onion
- Sliced avocado
- Sliced radishes
- Sprouts
- Lettuce or arugula
- Fresh dill
- Capers
- Everything bagel seasoning
FAQs
A traditional lox and cream cheese bagel consists of a bagel, cream cheese, lox, red onion, and capers. Sam’s on Sunset (our old favorite neighborhood bagel spot in LA) serves it as a platter so you can make your own and it comes with a bagel, lox, cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber, capers, pickles, and lemon.
Wondering how much smoked salmon per bagel? A good estimate is at least 4-6 ounces of lox per person.
New York! Lox came from Scandanavia, the lox is a Yiddish word for salmon and bagels originated in China and were refined in Italy, but putting them together was thought to happen in New York. The exact timing is unknown, but the term lox and bagels was already known in the 1950s. (Source)
Storage
Bagels and lox are best fresh, though they’ll last a few hours if you need to take it on the go with you.

What to Serve with Lox and Bagels
The lox and bagels can really be a full meal, but add a few of these to easily turn it into a full bagel brunch spread!
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Breakfast sausages or bacon
- Fresh fruit
- Mini muffins – mini chocolate chip muffins, mini banana muffins, or mini blueberry muffins
- Coffee – Cappuccino, latte, dirty chai, sweet cream cold foam, or a cup of coffee

More Breakfast Recipes
If you like this lox and cream cheese bagel, you might also like some of these other easy breakfast recipes:


Bagel and Lox Sandwich
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 serving
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy bagels and lox spread is perfect for brunch parties! Put everything out and let everyone build their perfect bagel sandwich.
Ingredients
- high-quality bagels
- cream cheese
- salmon lox (cold smoked salmon)
- fresh toppings: cucumbers, tomatoes, red onion, avocado
Instructions
- Slice bagel and spread with cream cheese.ย
- Top with cream cheese, lox, and desired toppings.ย
Equipment

Notes
- See the post above for lots of ideas on toppings and suggestions for bagel and cream cheese varieties)
- Nutrition facts are an estimate as calorie amounts in bagels will vary greatly. (And all calorie counts are estimates!)ย
Food styling and photography by Loren Runion.
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We put this spread out for friends on our charcuterie board. It was perfect for me the hostess ~ my work was done. I could enjoy our guests, the lox & bagels were attractive and satisfied everyone and all I had to do was keep the coffee brewing. Thanks Emily.